With all the rain in the past month, mushrooms have popped up all over, tempting people to do the unthinkable. Their mothers much not have warned them about touching toad stools. Several people have picked the fungus and stir fried it up, only to get deathly ill. At least 2 area men have avoided a liver transplant. According to the Washington Post:
Physicians offer the cautionary tale of Frank Constantinopla, 49, who after a Sept. 12 rainstorm looked in wonder at his backyard in Springfield, Va. “Oh, there’re so many mushrooms,” Constantinopla recalls thinking. “They look so lovely; I’m so lucky.”
Constantinopla plucked a handful and stir-fried them with noodles.
“They tasted good.”
Problems set in within hours and continued for days. Constantinopla and his wife grew weak, their stomachs ached, they vomited. Two days later, Constantinopla went to a local emergency room and was transferred to Georgetown University Hospital for a possible liver transplant
Doctors broke the news: Those lovely mushrooms were Amanita phalloides, a toadstool commonly known as the Death Cap.
Another man, a farmer who lives near Frederick suffered the same fate. In both cases, an experimental drug was used, made from milk thistle, has an holistic remedy. It fortunately did the trick and both men are expected to live.
Most of us were told as kids to not even touch toad stools and that they would kill you. I took those words to heart. In fact, even grocery store mushrooms make me a little edgy. I have always wondered if a rogue mushroom might not pop up in with the edible ones.
The Washington Post further advises:
Many toadstool victims don’t associate their illness with mushrooms, because symptoms are delayed and progress through three stages, experts said. The first begins six hours to a day after ingestion and may include stomach pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. After a day or two, victims often see symptoms abate. But three to five days later, liver and kidney damage can lead to jaundice and coma. Up to a third of people who eat poisonous mushrooms may die.
Stick to what Censored does. She photographs them. That is a safe way to memorialize them from a distance. ‘Shrooms are neat, but just don’t eat. And if you touch one by mistake, wash your hands immediately. Listen to your mother!
The last time I had any ‘shrooms growing around me, they were the ones that look just like a phallus and stink like crazy. No thought of eating those!
Stinkhorns….that’s what they were!
My walking partner and her husband took a class on mushroom hunting and learned all the vital info involved in IDing an edible one. It’s quite an art (or science). Most edible mushrooms in this area are rare enough that people protect their sources from competitors. I can ID with confidence only a morel and in over 30 years I’ve found only about a dozen on my property.
There are plenty which look like grocery store mushrooms but they absolutely are not safe to eat.
Interesting names for mushrooms in M-h’s article as well -Destroying Angel and Death Cap.
Thanks for the inspiration, Censored. When I saw the WaPo article, I thought…bingo….Post material!!
I guess mushrooms have been used for centuries to poison people. Maybe I should have said milleniums. How to do that was probably an art form in its day.
My mother warned us about picking and eating mushrooms too. But the tale of Alice in Wonderland was tempting…
@Censored bybvbl
Mr. Laf and I were just saying we didn’t dare touch those “toad stools” growing up, or as adults. Why on earth are these fools eating these things. I guess their mother never warned them, like ours did. I heard there were a bunch of colorful ones out at the battlefield too. I hope the rain stops long enough for me to get a few shots of them.
Check the south 40 in your back yard. You probably have a bumper crop of them. @laf
@Lafayette
Maybe some of those folks lived in areas where edible mushrooms were more abundant. My grandmother in NY always hunted them and they weren’t the easily identified morels. But you’d think that if the parents cooked wild mushrooms, they would have instilled that knowledge in their kiddos or told them to leave all mushrooms alone.
@Moon-howler
LOL-I need some rain boots to go down by Rio de WestGate. I’ve never seen them on the south side, they probably get washed away with the current of the river that develops with any steady rain. Hey, but it we don’t have the problem Dumfries is having.
I get a field of them over here. Ususally the school kids kick them down. They aren’t the colorful kids.
@Censored bybvbl
Little known Steve fact: I have 25 years of formal wilderness survival training and practical application. I frequently teach classes to adults, teens and children. I can identify a plethora of edible plants, and will often gather wild edibles from my property or around the neighborhood. One thing I don’t mess with is mushrooms. Never. Never. Never. Too easy to make a mistake. I’ll stick to the market or grocery.
@Steve Thomas
What have you found to be the most common edible plant that people overlook?
Our weedy yard is a source of a few edibles – sorrel, plantain, sumac, clover, daylilies,pawpaws, various nut trees. It’s probably a diet I could lose weight on. The opossums beat us to all but four pawpaws this year.
The morel is pretty unique although there is a false morel to be aware of. A field guide should make the differences plain.
@Censored bybvbl
Easy, the Dandelion. Grows everywhere, and people spend a fortune trying to keep them off the lawn. I All parts are edible. I love the flowers tossed in a vinegrette. Chalk full of vitamin C. Another is Queen Anne’s Lace, which is a wild carrot. Caution as it’s look-a-like is hemlock. Easy way to tell is the purple dot in the center of the flower, and the root smells like a carrot. Another is the “fiddlehead” of the common bracken fern. Fantastic sauteed in a bit of butter. Lastly, one of my all-time favs is the cat-tail. Root is starchy and tastes like mashed potato. Shoots taste like Asperagus, the stalk like water-chestnut, and the pollen as also edible. Plantain and clover is ok if you are real hungry, but I much prefer the noble dandelion.
@Steve Thomas
Many years ago I had the experience of drinking some dandelion wine which my husband’s co-worker concocted – wouldn’t make Wine Spectator but wasn’t too bad.
Inside Nova has plenty of mushroom pics. Good job, Chris, for moving in close for your pic.
http://www2.insidenova.com/list/mushrooms/gallery/
@Censored bybvbl
Thanks! There were some really ugly ones in there. I still can’t believe anyone would consider eating these toad stools.
Poke salad is a favorite in WVA. Is that poke or polk?
It’s poke. I have a couple of family members that eat it. My favorite wild thing from the dirt there is ramps. However, they linger with you for days. My dad said that kids would get sent home from school during ramp season. I love them raw on homemade bread with salt.
I have heard ramps stories, once I came to PWC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ipSSlR4wWU&feature=fvst
We’ve had an abundance of pokeweed this year too. Don’t you have to eat it when the leaves are still very small? I’ve never tried it – afraid I’d poison myself.